"We operate 1500 flights a day. They don't come skidding in. This is a very routine, safe form of travel. "

The 'standing cabin' proposals are currently ruled out by European Safety regulations which say passengers must be belted in for take-off and landing.

Mr O'Leary, whose low-cost airline posted a 10 per cent rise in first-half profits to £477m, said: "We're always looking for new ways of doing things; it's the authorities who won't allow us to do them.

“They are all a bunch of plonkers.”

The outspoken chief executive added flights should no longer be considered a luxurious experience, with passengers more focused on simply getting to their destination.

"We should be exploring these things. We should be asking the questions,” he said.

"The problem with aviation is that for 50 years it's been populated by people who think it's this wondrous sexual experience; that it's like James Bond and wonderful and we'll all be flying first class when really it's just a b----- bus with wings.

"Most people just want to get from A to B. You don't want to pay £500 for a flight.

“You want to spend that money on a nice hotel, apartment or restaurant... "You don't want to p--- it all away at the airport or on the airline."

Mr O’Leary is known for his forthright pronouncements on airline policies.

He has already suggested charging passengers to use Ryanair toilets, suggested environmentalists should be shot and proclaimed an “astonishing” number of his customers want to tax and torture fat people.

When questioned over the fairness of charging travellers to print a boarding pass, he said: ““We think [they] should pay 60 euros for being so stupid.”